Mayor's Business/Arts Initiative

Saturday, June 30, 2012

I have been blessed enough to have the opportunity to represent the Dallas Symphony's Young Strings program many times. When I was a senior in High School I got to go to the nations capital to accept the "Coming Up Taller" award given to YS by the National Endowment of the Arts. I have participated in several workshops, and played at alumni recitals many times. In early June I was featured in the YS 20th anniversary book, and was recognized at the celebration held at the Meyerson Sympphony Center.

Yesterday, I was presented with an amazing opportunity by Mr. Jim Keyes (former CEO of both Blockbuster and 7 Eleven) to attend the Mayor's Business/Arts Initiative as an example of someone whose life has been changed because of business involvement in the Dallas Arts. It was quite the experience.

After an almost nervous breakdown from Dallas traffic and arriving 25 minutes late, I hurried up to the Crescent Club and entered a room full of CEO's and business leaders in Dallas. I had a conversation with the former mayor of Colleyville, and Mr. Tramell Crow himself, among many others. It was a room full of very important people, and I was one of the subjects of why they were all there! Mr. Keyes was to fill in for the Mayor and speak about the importance of business involvement and sponsorships needed to keep programs such as Young Strings alive. He talked about how he was saved by the arts when he was young, and how he knew he was doing something great when he decided to sponsor YS back when he was CEO of 7 Eleven. He got to the part about me and I definitely had to fight back tears because he introduced me and listening to a room full of Dallas' top businessmen clapping for me, was unbelievable.

Before the speech, a beautiful soprano, Jennifer Youngs, sang Puccini's O Mio, one of my favorite arias, the most beautiful I have ever heard it be sung. I've actually played the piece with 2 student orchestras in the past so it was a real treat to listen. Here is a picture I snapped of the both of us

All in all, it was an incredible experience. Hopefully the attendees will pledge some serious cash after hearing my story :)

On the 17th floor of the Crescent, sorry you cant see us :( but you can see how pretty Dallas is!

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Welcome to Growing up Simmonds! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will enjoy reading along as I share with you my life as a coaches wife, a twin mom, and everything in between. Follow along and leave a comment if you'd like, I love hearing from you!